Richard Gottlieb

Children selling their old toys so they can buy new ones

Check out a fascinating article in the December 11, 2008 Wall Street Journal entitled “Santa Needs a Bailout, Too: Kids Sell Old Toys to Raise Cash for New Ones.” It’s a fascinating look at how kids are selling their old toys in order to acquire new toys. It seems that a tight economy is teaching some important lessons about thrift, entrepreuralism, value, values and a little bit of history to boot.

When 7-year-old Faith Corbin asked her mother for a Ruthie Smithens doll for Christmas, her mother gave her some bad news. Because of the bad economy, there would be no expensive dolls this year.

"I can't really justify spending another $100 on a doll," says Barbara Corbin, 42, of Bowie, Md.   Having seen her mother buy things online, Faith, a second-grader …suggested selling some of her toys online to raise money for the Ruthie doll, which coincidentally represents the Depression era in Mattel Inc.'s American Girl series. "I wanted to sell to some people who don't have much toys," says Faith, whose mother helped her place an ad on craigslist to sell some American Girl doll clothes, accessories and paraphernalia for $100.

The article goes on to site other children in similar situations who have chosen to raise money by selling their old toys. In fact, the article says that the number of postings for toys for sale on Craig’s List has more than doubled from where it was this time last year, often including the statement: "my son is selling" or "my daughter is selling."

Here is another great story:

To teach her children a lesson about how much they have, Erin Scharba Judge of Anoka, Minn., has been encouraging her two young sons to donate toys they don't care about to charity and sell special toys they no longer use. Last month, she helped 5-year-old Alex sell his old Diego's Mobile Rescue Unit and other Diego items for $40. He used the money to buy himself and his siblings gifts. Selling "will help them with their money management, it will help them with not being pack rats, and it will help them with their generosity," says Mrs. Judge, who adds that things are a little tight this year for the family because her husband's work hours were recently cut and they are expecting a fifth child.

Something tells me that Alex Scharba, Faith Corbun and these other budding entrepreneurs are someday going to be running Mattel, Hasbro or Lego. In the mean time, good for these parents and their children for making lemonade out of lemons!

Posted by Richard Gottlieb on December 16, 2008 | Comments (2)